El Calafate

This time I’m writing from a campsite in El Calafate. Quite a few days have passed and they were some busy days indeed.

a monument of Milodon at the entrance to Puerto Natales - an extinct ground sloth living once in the area; it is now a symbol of Puerto Natales

Argentinean border crossing on Paso Don Guillermo; two, three buildings and blue sky

I left Puerto Natales at midday (I wanted to do it earlier but didn’t manage plus it started drizzling so I needed to wait a bit). It was a good day, so far my best one. First 60km slightly uphill I did in a great time of 2.5h and with no breaks. The wind was for the very first time pushing me though it was not a very strong wind. On that section too I beat my speed record so far – 60km/h. It didn’t really feel fast, just freewheeling downhill being pushed by the wind. I got to the border town of Cerro Castillo (big words for a village with 20 houses or so). I had a massive ‘milanesa’ over there for lunch (something like Polish schabowy), got the Chilean exit stamp and had to cross a pass on ripio road to get to Argentinean border. 10km of climbing on ripio – horrible. Another 5km after the Argentinean post also uphill, also on ripio. I was swearing a lot.

I can’t remember if I have introduced ‘ripio’ yet but if I haven’t I will in a second.

It was around 5pm when I got to Ruta 40 for the very first time on my trip – a road that connects the very south with very north of the country (following the western side of it, along the cordillera). I had 40km to a tiny place called Tapi Aike where I could apparently sleep at the police station. I got there before 7, there was nothing really there apart from a junction, a police station and a petrol station with a small café. A police officer told me I could camp at the back of the building. Cool! I did 117km that day, usually being pushed by the wind but very often climbing and with 15km of ripio. I was happy as I only started cycling at 12pm plus from this point I had about 60km of ripio but the wind seemed to be helping me.

I put my tent up and started boiling water for my dinner – 2 buns, a can of tuna, 1 avocado, 1 big instant soup (chicken flavour!) to which I added some processed cheese (old trick from the times of climbing holidays in Poland) plus a bit of chocolate and some cookies for desert, all washed down with around 400ml of tea. Quite a lot I guess considering I had eaten this milanesa just 4 hours before.

I was entertained there by a young dog, pretty much the same breed as the one from Bombon El Perro. She was very lively and wanted to play all the time but I actually wanted to eat and then go inside my sleeping bag and read a bit. After running around my tent for some time she gave up but I managed to take some pictures of her.

el perro hoping for some fun

That was the coldest night so far – around 0 or -1. My breath condensed on the inside of the tent and froze to a thin layer of ice. I was warm though – good decision with a warmer sleeping bag. What a surprise though – in the morning I noticed that the wind changed 180 degrees and I would have side/head wind for the day! Luckily it was not very strong plus I had ripio so was not going fast therefore didn’t feel the strength of the wind that much.

view from the ripio road towards the Paine massif with nothing in between

Ripio… the biggest fucking hijo de puta ever!!! I so hate it I can’t even express it. It is a gravel road with millions of loose stones of various size – from small grit to stones the size of my fist or bigger. They are absolutely everywhere and make riding almost impossible. It could possibly be enjoyable on a proper mountain bike with fat tyres and no panniers. My bike has tyres more for the road than off-road conditions, is probably around 35kg in total and for some reason my front wheel likes very often turning uncontrollably on the stones which with my shoes clipped in to pedals brings me on the edge of a heart attack.

There are very short sections of ripio that are ‘rideable’ but 80% of it is a painful struggle for every single metre. I had to be so concentrated on the road, on what is a few metres in front of me that I was sometime scared to look away for a split of a second on my cycle computer. If I was cycling faster it would be better as I wouldn’t be put off balance so easily but I couldn’t unless I wanted my racks to fall off within a few days. So far my average speed on ripio has been about 9km/h – it’s not riding at all…

On that day I was still climbing slightly, on ripio and against the wind. I was just missing the rain (in fact it was sunny). There was absolutely nothing around, just hills, stones, blue sky with white clouds, some primitive bushes and wind. I started at 10pm and did 45km by 4pm! With hardly any break as in fact there was nothing to put my bike against. I was swearing aloud for the first hour but then calmed down. I know that around 80% of Carretera Austral is ripio so I better accept it or give up now. I decided to accept it and tried to put myself in a more meditating state of mind. I had been checking my computer way too often to sometimes find out I moved only 400m. I decided to change that habit too. When I then noticed that I did 2km from the last check that was quite a something. 2km on ripio is a long way!

a ripio road to nowhere

Kilometres were passing. I even peed with my bike against myself (I don’t want to put it on the ground as I thing the weight of panniers could do something to the racks in that position). I knew that after around 40km there was meant to be a small stream and a police post. That was my goal for that moment. At more less 40km I passes a bend and couldn’t believe in what I saw – two cyclists going in the same direction as myself. I finally caught up with them (plus 2 more waiting on the side of the road) to discover it was a French-Swiss family with 2 kids cycling the same route as myself. The kids were around maybe 8-9 (a girl) and maybe 12 (a boy). He was cycling himself, her bike was attached to her dad’s bike (front wheel hanging) so if she didn’t want to she didn’t have to cycle. I have to say I was impressed and am now even more when writing about it. We had a chat, exchanged opinions and plans and carried on hoping to get to the stream soon. We did literally minutes later. There was a lonely house in a small valley, absolutely nothing around. I went inside, everything open but no-one there. I went outside and towards the back of the building. As I turned around the corner I noticed 2 big dogs and one small. Oh shit! This is what I thought when they started running towards me. First impression was not pleasant, especially as they looked quite serious but luckily they were some nice friendly dogs. A host appeared soon after. We all had a nice chat, he gave us some water, told about cyclists staying at his place for a night. He was equally shocked seeing this family with kids as I was.

I then was told there was 20km more of ripio. I decided I wanted to have this section covered by the end of the day. And so I said goodbye to all of them and moved on cycling. I needed around 2h more and by 6.30pm I was done with this horrible day, the worst so far! 66km of ripio, whole day of really hard cycling, around 4 or 5 times near miss with me managing to unclip my shoes in the very, very last moment and saving myself from falling (or actually stopping falling half way through).

I hate ripio and I want to die

Just when my ‘shortcut’ on ripio finished and I was back on tarmac there was a tiny hamlet with one concrete house and some metal shacks. I asked a guy living there if I could camp there. No  problem but just no fire. Oh no, I won’t light any fire, I have my little stove. Oh no, no stove either, you know, fires, the big fire in Torres del Paine etc. Ok, ok, I won’t cook. Oh, if you want to cook come inside, you can use my kitchen. Oh great, I don’t really need to cook but wouldn’t mind getting some hot water. And that’s what I did. I had again quite a lot of bread, another avocado, instant chicken soup with cheese, tuna and more than half a litre of tea. This guy (quite disgusting 60 year old man who when I asked him if he was living there said it was his work and he was doing shifts of 7 days and then had to return to El Calafate to feed his friend and saying that he pointed at his trousers!) told me that if I didn’t want any wind I needed to start early. So I set up my alarm for 7am and by 9 I was on the road again. I think by early he meant start riding at around 7am but I was lucky and it was a very quiet day and no wind whatsoever (rather strange). Just some hundreds of metres from this place was a sign ‘El Calafate 92km’. It turned out to be 97km in the end but it was an easy day. First 35km was a slight climb to get to the edge of a mountain range overlooking a valley where El Calafate was. Then around 15km of steep downhill (first 10km really steep). There was still no wind but I only managed to go down 50km/h (I think this is the limit if the wind is not pushing me or if I don’t pedal). Last 30km of undulating terrain took me to El Calafate. By 2.30pm I was there.

I am on a pretty chilled out campsite, each tent has its own table and fixed grill plus a plug! Hot water in the shower and wifi – what else would you need.

I did 280km in 3 days so I thought I deserved a break. I went yesterday to see Perito Moreno glacier. 

Perito Moreno glacier

Perito Moreno glacier

Perito Moreno glacier

I was very lucky to see a massive piece of ice falling into the lake and unbelievably lucky to be pointing my camera exactly at this spot at that time so I took pictures of this ‘disaster’.

damage caused

Perito Moreno is a great site. I spent 2 hours just looking at the glacier, listening to it, watching some small pieces of ice breaking off and falling into the water. Plus is it very nicely organised and prepared for tourists with kilometres of boardwalks from which you can watch the glacier (either from above and from some distance or from pretty close and being more less at the same elevation as its face). It definitely is a magical experience on a great, sunny day as I had yesterday (in general I’ve been pretty lucky with the weather so far).

Lago Argentino and the walkboards

Lago Argentino and the glacier at the back

Today – time for myself which is always time less for myself and more time for everyone and everything around me – washing, blogging, emailing, shopping ect.

My next section will take me to El Chalten – my last stop on the Argentinean side before crossing the border and starting Carretera Austral. Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre are awaiting me.

it's all about Las Torres

Here I am back from the park.

I met an Israeli guy at the hostel in Puerto Natales and we both took the same bus to the park (still 150km from Puerto Natales). He was planning to do the whole circuit (locals call is the O), I was doing the W (usually done in 5 days; my plan was to do it in 4). As I travel with panniers I don’t have any backpack with me. I had to rent a pack and walking poles (so I wouldn’t damage my knees in the park). The pack I got was pretty crap and heavy on its own. With food for 3 nights in the park and all my camping equipment it was really heavy. I wouldn’t mind if it was my own pack but with this rented one I was less than happy.

Anyway, we got to the park and the mountains were still in the clouds. We started walking and the closer we were the layer of clouds became thinner. And finally for the first time I could see Las Torres sticking out in between clouds. This view woke me up and helped fully realise where I actually was.

on the way from the entrance to the park to the Refugio Las Torres - the towers sticking out on the right

slightly wider angle approach to the park's landscape

After 1.5h we made a break by Hosteria Las Torres and started climbing to the ‘refugio’ Chileno. After another 1.5h we got there and had lunch.  Last hour took us to the free campsite Las Torres – the base for the viewpoint for Las Torres.

The park has 3 types of accommodation within its borders. Hotels/refugios with rooms and/or dorms, campsites by refugios (for which you need to pay) and a few free ‘campamentos’ with a simple toilet and a stream/river next to it to get water from. Las Torres was a ‘campamento’ in the forest an hour walk from the viewpoint. The whole idea of seeing Las Torres is to get to the viewpoint for the sunrise – the rising sun for a few minutes gives the towers an orange colour. Alarm set for 4.35, Alex and I ready in 20 min (too early for breakfast) and we started walking up. When we got there it was still dark but after some time of freezing our asses off (it wasn’t though that dramaticly cold as we didn’t go into our sleeping bags which we had with us for that reason) we finally saw the towers in orange.

before the actual sunrise

las Torres lit by direct sun

sunrise by Torres del Paine

massive faces of las Torres

We got back to campamento, picked up our stuff and started walking down. Alex was going to the left to start his O, I was going right to do the W. More less from that moment I started feeling pretty weak. I had about 3-4h to a refugio and another 2h to campamento. After an hour I needed to make a break, after another 30 min another (very unusual for me). I got to a stream and fell asleep for 20 min. I was feeling nauseous. I kept going but I was so weak that various options were crossing my mind including wild camping or returning to Hosteria and camping Las Torres at the entrance to the park (not campamento las Torres) and coming back to Puerto Natales. I had to stop every 15 min and keep thinking not to start throwing up. Before a small climb I made another break, felt better after 5 min, put my backpack on and almost puked straight away. I only managed to take it off and make a few steps. I was puking badly. I realised I must have got some sort of food poisoning. The previous night I was cooking gnocci and sausages with tomato sauce and even now, quite a few days later the sole thought of that meal makes me feel bad. So I was sick 3 times but straight away I felt better. I carried on and after 2 toughest hours of walking in my life I got to regufio Los Cuernos. I was shivering, I was super weak and still not feeling right in terms of food. I managed to put a tent up (I gave up an idea of walking to campamento Italiano long time ago) and just went inside, covered myself with a sleeping bag and fell asleep. After two hours I woke up feeling a heat wave. 30 seconds later I knew that I had about 30 more seconds to leave my tent. I puked again 3 times 1m from my tent. Again I felt a bit better and awaken enough to try to take a shower. I went inside the refugio and sneaked into showers for their guests so I could have hot water. I met some guys the other night and they were on the campsite too. One of them gave me some Ibuprofen. I was still not quite sure if I was done with throwing up so I held off taking the pills. I went to my tent and slept again. Now familiar heat wave woke me up again but this time with a massive effort of my mind (only equal to the one of a person levitating) I managed to keep it all inside of me. I got prepared – took my headtorch (it was after 10pm), bottle of water, toilet roll and went for a walk. I sat down on a log and was awaiting some action. I was getting cold but nothing really was happening. I really hate it but in some cases one has to do it – I stuck my finger in my throat. I had hardly anything to puke with but I did another few times. That time I finally did clear my stomach totally and I was pretty proud of myself. I was then ready for the pills and a long night’s sleep. Two Ibuprofens (by the way, one pill in Chile has 600mg of the active thing in it and not 500 like in Poland or UK) and I woke up the next morning feeling much better. I forced myself to eat a relatively big breakfast and left the camp to get to the campamento Italiano only (2h). I left at 2pm – it took me that long to get up, put my tent down, wash myself and eat breakfast. I was still pretty weak but at least I was not feeling sick anymore. I got to Italiano with some breaks, put the tent up, went inside it and inside my sleeping bag and was ready for some reading (that meant I felt way better than the day before). I had tuna with bread and instant noodles for dinner (it finally tasted good). I however gave up any brave plans for the W.

the view 50m from the campamento Italiano towards the Paine massif

Normally it would be a relatively easy trek (the only real obstacle being the weight of the pack) but not when you are so weak after some sort of food poisoning (it wasn’t the standard tourist stomach upset as I didn’t have diarrhoea). I had enough food to stay one extra day in the park but I thought that if I did I would then later pay for it on the bike. On the last day I was feeling pretty much normal, I was walking strong and a section that on the map was described as 2.5h I did in 1.5h. From the refugio Paine Grande I took the catamaran to a point where buses were picking trekkers up for the ride back to Puerto Natales.

Lago Nordenskjöld as seen from a path

I guess I can say I was pretty unlucky with this trek. I would normally have really enjoyed it but instead I almost had to fight for survival (well, exaggerating but not a lot). I did however see the symbols of the park – las Torres and los Cuernos. I wish I could have got to the Grey Glacier but then there are still some other glaciers in front of me.

I am resting today, doing some hand-washing (don’t want to pay for laundry plus they would probably sooner or later damage all my merino wool clothes), writing this text for my ‘dear followers’. The wind today is so strong that if I had to cycle against it I would probably give up after 5 minutes.

Tomorrow I am off towards El Calafate. It is about 240km and I suppose I won’t manage to make it in 2 days. The winds should be for the very first time on this trip finally kind of helping me. El Calafate – a break for the Perito Moreno glacier. Then to El Chalten – another 2 days of cycling I suppose and a hike to FitzRoy and more importantly to me – Cerro Torre! From there a pretty difficult crossing to Chile (2 lakes to cross by ferry; 7km of pushing a bike uphill) and finally the beginning of the Carretera Austral – as many cyclists I’ve met say the most beautiful section of my journey through Patagonia.

loneliness of a long distance cyclist

It's drizzling, it's absolutely flat, there is nothing around... A car passing, hurray!
(video taken on the day when I left Punta Arenas and cycled north)


loneliness...

some pictures

Some pictures from Porvenir and the way from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales

Porvenir - main street

Porvenir - looking towards the bay

Cafeteria in Porvenir

from the ferry Porvenir-Punta Arenas

a flag of Chile and Magellanes (the most southern province of Chile - Region XII)

street art in Porvenir

street art in Porvenir

street art in Porvenir

a weird 'artistic instalation' on the way to Puerto Natales plus 'a road to nowhere'

flat landscape and dramatic sky - eso es la Patagonia

Chilean estancia in the middle of nowhere

Magellanes

Thursday pm, a week ago...

First and most difficult day is over

I am sitting in a ‘panaderia’ in Tolhuin and feel pretty lucky. I first almost thought this town hardly existed as there was just nothing here. I was cycling through the town and there were only some random houses and forest. Then I got to tourist information and was told where the campsite was. Quick and massive sandwich and I was about to go but as I was told the campsite was some kilometres outside of the town by the lake I wanted to buy some food first. I noticed a guy in front of a computer in a bakery so I simply asked him if he was also staying on the campsite. He looked at me, at my cycling shoes and asked ‘Are you a ‘cyclo-tourist’?’ And so it started. He told me I got to a paradise for cyclists. The owners of this place have two free rooms for cyclists, apparently all the food is free.

I left a hostel in Ushuaia at 9:50 on Thursday. I met some really nice people there, they all wished me good luck. After the first few km in the town, discovering how it feels to ride a bike that is over 20kg heavier I started climbing to slowly get into the mountains. The very first climbs, head wind and I was already shocked how slow I am and how hard it is to cycle. It was drizzling at times, the sun was coming out too. I got into the mountains and the trip properly started for me. Amazing views, I was alone on the road, from time to time someone would pass me in a car and use their horn to greet me. A lot of people were also waving to me – very nice and encouraging. In one of the valleys I saw my first rainbow – pretty cool feeling. After 40km I did a sandwich break and even then, sitting on the side of the road people passing by were greeting me. A bit later I passed a ski lift and then started climbing again to reach a pass. That was the moment when I decided that if I ever need to use the slowest gear on the bike it would be a very serious situation. I was climbing about 6km/h, not really faster than a person walking but still on gear 3 at the back. The wind was killing me. It then started drizzling again. The last section of that day was a long descent and flat ride to Tolhuin (the only moment I was actually being pushed by the wind).

***

This is what I managed to type from La Panaderia ‘La Union’. Then it got too ‘social’ with around 10 cyclists, a journalist, the owner Emilio. We had some pictures taken, some interviews for the local paper. I got to see my ‘room’ for the night (a big gym in the basement of the house with some cyclists there already). In the evening, after a pasta cooked by Italian cyclists and a salad prepared by an American girl we spent some time talking about the route. Apart from Tamara, this US girl, everyone was about to finish their trip as they were cycling south. We found out we were stupid enough to decide to cycle north against the wind. We got a lot of suggestions, some tips, places to stay etc. It was just great seeing all those people doing exactly the same stuff. At the same time I felt a bit weird as I was the ‘new’ kid, everything clean and neat, 100km done instead of thousands.

Quite a few of the guys were cycling in Patagonia only but there was one guy who cycled all the way from Alaska.

La Panaderia is an institution for long distance cyclists. They stay there for free, can use wi-fi, hot water included, all the food from the bakery for free. They usually help baking stuff and end up in this place for quite a few days. I’d love to stay longer (especially as the next day they were going to have an asado – barbeque) but I didn’t want to make a break after a day of cycling.

Tamara and I left Tolhuin the next day and the plan was to reach Rio Grande where Tamara had a place to stay via Couch Surfing. It was meant to be a second day for me with over 100km. It all started easy with hardly any wind and nice sun out. After first 50km we got close to the coast and got hit by the wind. It was a nightmare, 10km/h on very slow gear, pedalling even on descends. We were still 30km away from Rio Grande and it was already 5pm. After having spent the previous night with the guys and having heard all the stories we decided to hitch a ride. The main general advice of Vincent, this Swiss guy who introduced me to La Panaderia was – don’t hesitate to get a lift if the road is bad, if you don’t feel like cycling/don’t like the surrounding or the wind is making it impossible. He told us to go by bus or hitch hike the section to Porvenir as it was ugly with strong head wind.

In Rio Grande we ended up sleeping at Fernando’s flat. This is a guy who does couch-surfing and didn’t mind having me too. Great guy, nice little flat, hot shower, bikes safe, stories in the evening etc.

After the first hard day when I did 105km I woke up the next day with a mild pain in my knee. It has stayed with me till now and I don’t like it at all. I just hope it will soon disappear.

… (and then quite a few days more or less wild passed)

We left Rio Grande with a great plan to reach a penguin colony on the way from San Sebastian to Porvenir (or maybe even to Porvenir). As we started the day quite late we decided to get a lift as much as we could. A young couple took us to the border crossing, the day was nice and sunny as it was all looking promising. We then only needed to cycle 15km on ‘ripio’ (gravel road) between the Argentinean and Chilean border posts. It was against the wind and took us about 1.5h! That really made me think. We got to the Chilean side, did all the necessary stuff and started catching a lift. The wind was really bad and cold and there was no way we could cycle against it. After 2h we gave up. A hosteria on the border was full but we were told we could camp nearby. Then one of the border officers came to us to see how we were doing. He said he would find a truck for us to drive us to those bloody penguins. The colony was located about 15km south from the road to Porvenir, some 50km from San Sebastian and 100 from Porvenir. The officer didn’t manage to get anything for us but he took us around the corner of the building and showed us a space for camping. ‘We are open 24h, you can use a toilet, if you are cold at night you can come inside, we have TV, you are here protected from the wind.’ That was really great plus I had never slept so close to the border.

Next day in the morning we were again trying our luck with a lift. We were lucky and around midday got to the crossroad where we had about 15km to penguins. It took us probably 30min to do 5km (super strong side wind) to a tiny ‘village’ with a few houses. We left part of our luggage there and cycled further south. We finally got to the penguins but I’m not sure it was worth all the hassle. We saw a small colony of king penguins, around 30-40m from us. It was cool but also pricey. We got back to pick up our bags and back to the crossroad where we turned west, straight against the wind. It was just impossible to cycle. Ripio was making it pretty dangerous (loose stones, sand), the wind was just crazy. After a few hundred metres we managed to get a lift. A guy was driving back to his estancia some 30km ahead. He dropped us on the main road by a few trees forming some sort of protection against the wind. We started cooking something to have something hot to eat. I felt pretty miserable, the wind was horrible, the trees offered poor protection, everywhere around broken glass. It was to be a bag night. And then a pick-up turned up and actually stopped for us and we were saved! Two guys were coming back to Porvenir from a day of fishing. They seriously saved our asses.

We got to Porvenir on Sunday evening and the only day the ferry doesn’t go to Punta Arenas is Monday. So whether we wanted it or not we got stuck in Porvenir for 2 nights.

The town had a weird feel to it. There was nothing there but at the same time this nothing with some colourfully painted buildings, a few restaurants, one panaderia, a lot of cold wind, sea (bay) visible from any point of the town was actually pretty charming. At least to me. To some extend it resembled a seaside town from Scandinavia.

The next day 2pm ferry to Punta Arenas. We saw some dolphins jumping out of the water just next to the ferry. Punta Arenas is the biggest town in the area. I somehow failed to notice its beauty – quite possibly it just doesn’t have any.

We left the town in the morning and cycled north for about 20km. Rain clouds started forming but the wind wasn’t too bad. A van stopped just in front of us to ask us if we wanted a ride. Tamara wanted, I didn’t. Shortly after it started drizzling and I a thought crossed my mind that maybe I should have jumped in that car. It soon stopped raining and the wind disappeared – I was actually enjoying a ride. Another van passed slowly next to me and a driver was filming me on his mobile. I finally saw rhea – those emu-like big birds (not as big as emu I guess). I also saw an owl sitting on the fence post just some metres from the road. This is the advantage of riding a bike – you see more wildlife and the animals are not so scared of you. After some 50km Tamara was waiting for me in a small café. We ate a bit and carried on. Another 50km and that was it for that day. We got to Villa Tehuelche, a tiny village with one café and two small shops. We camped there for free by a local market (where all the cyclists camp as we were told). This small café just by the road was really pleasant. Most importantly it was very warm, it had a toilet and it was serving soup and tea. The windows were covered in tens or even hundreds of stickers of various travel companies and individuals on long trips (sponsored I guess as otherwise why would you have produced stickers). In the evening when we were about to leave a Polish group arrived (Logos Tours). They were as surprised to see me as I was to see them. Two guys even took some pictures with me. The next day in the morning we were having coffee there and an Explore group arrived (average age 60).

We still had 40km north, 40 west and another 60 northwest to cover before reaching Puerto Natales. The day started ok but with every 10 min the wind grew stronger. Just before the end of the first stretch it was already so strong that although from the side it was making cycling very hard. A few km before a tiny village we turned west and then my speed was not exceeding 10km/h. The only reason I kept cycling was the I knew there was this village somewhere close and that if I stopped there was nothing to hide from the wind. We finally got to this village (more a police post, a few other buildings and a small café). We ate some sandwiches and decided to get a lift ideally all the way to Puerto Natales (although I really wanted to spend this and another day and simply cycle this distance). After 1.5h waiting a small lorry stopped and took us all the way to Puerto Natales. It was late afternoon, sun still high (though the wind was freezing) and the town looked really pretty. Located just by the sea (or actually some sort of bay or fjord), surrounded by snowy mountains from almost 3 sides. Later on when I was walking through the streets I realised that I much more preferred Puerto Natales to Ushuaia.

Today we have a free day and tomorrow I go hiking in Torred del Paine park. I want to do the W – around 4-day trek. There are hundreds of people going to the park and coming back from it every day. It is still though some 150km from here.  I just need to hire a backpack and get food for those 4 days (everything in the park is super-expensive). Tamara goes to the park for 1 night and then continues north to El Calafate.

Ok, time for me to go for a walk in the town. I want to take some pictures but also eat something.

*** 

I've written the above in the last few days. I don't like the way it all sounds, it's flat and dry. I may need to switch to Polish. Or maybe just need some more time.

More pictures will come.

Another video - from the very first day of cycling. That was already after the mountains, approaching a lake and Tolhuin.
riding in Tierra del Fuego

A few more pictures:

leaving Ushuaia - bike freshly assembled and loaded + a brand new flag

Chilean border crossing - a toilet :)

Chilean border - above my palm taking picture is the spot where we camped (a border officer showed us this space!); wind blowing

watching king penguins by Bahia Inutil (in between San Sebastian and Porvenir)

Here are some pictures and a video from Tierra del Fuego. So far it's been great but also hard because of the wind. More text soon.
I'm cycling now with Tamara - a girl from the US who happens to go my way too.


video: wind in Tierra del Fuego
(flag on my bike has already started falling apart because of the wind; I taped the edges but the tape lasted a few hours)

on day 2 - Tolhuin to Rio Grande; Tamara watching vicunas

me resting after struggling with head wind

entering Chile through San Sebastian

Tamara is approaching Chilean border post in San Sebastian